Prisons are using coronavirus to roll out mass solitary confinement

The system is an abusive and violent structure. We need to find the courage to imagine a radically different one that is predicated on restoration and healing, writes Ashish Prashar

The pandemic should have been the incentive to release incarcerated people (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The plight of prisoners in the wake of coronavirus has been concerning human rights activists across the globe since the pandemic began to spread like wildfire. Already commonly employing the use of solitary confinement – described by the UN as a kind of torture – prisons are a hotbed for cruelty and inhumane treatment. Covid-19 has acted as an accelerant in this already dangerous situation.

In the UK, the response to the threat of the pandemic in prisons was swift: prisoners were to be kept isolated from both each other and visitors, losing access to activities like the gym, the library, religious worship or any kind of social activity. According to a Commons committee, the UK prison population has essentially been in solitary confinement for almost four months. This may have spared the UK prison system from seeing the kind of deaths and illness levels many of us feared, but it has enabled a doubling down of already harsh treatment of prisoners. And as we swelter through August, likely hitting 36C this week, prisoners confined to cells for dozens of hours at a time will be unable to cool off outside thanks to their ongoing lockdown, while the rest of the UK flocks to pub gardens in what is a blatant double standard.